FINAL FANTASY IX

CONTEXT

At various locations on the World Map, you may enter random battles where the normal battle music is replaced by cute background music. In these contests, your adversaries will not attack; instead, they beg you to give them a specific jewel.

If you give them the jewel, your party will receive a significant amount of AP (between 10 and 50) and sometimes a useful item. If you are cruel enough to attack them, they will run away, but they cannot be killed.

Once you have satisfied a monster's wishes, that particular monster will never appear again.

Once you have fed the correct item to the friendly monster, it will tell you the name of the next friendly monster you should visit unless you have stumbled across the latter while exploring the world map, in which case you will not receive any information.

Also, you will not be notified of any friendly monsters that should have been encountered previously.

You should not be unduly worried about the order as this does not affect the outcome of the event. There is a total of nine phantom monsters.

The only catch is that some of the monsters are in dangerous, out-of-the-way locations. For example, you can only find the Purple Jabberwock in a forest on the west continent, which requires the Invincible airship of the red chocobo to reach. Similarly, the Friendly Yan's evil lookalikes on Vile Island are, in fact, some of the toughest enemies in the game, and may wipe out your party!

Only when you have met all eight phantoms can you satisfy the Friendly Yan on Vile Island. You can still encounter him, but he will flee if you have not completed the others first. Once you have given the Friendly Yan a diamond, not only will you get 50 AP and a useful item, you will also get the favours described:

- You can do physical attacks on Ozma, the super boss in Chocobo Air Garden.
- Ozma's "Absorbs Shadow damage" will become "Weak against Shadow damage."

THE FAKER
There's also another monster named Gimme Cat that asks for a Diamond, but he is a rogue, so do not be deceived by him!

FRIENDLY PHANTOMS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

Brown Mu
Location: Plains between the Ice Cavern and Dali
Wants: 1 Ore
Reward: 10 AP, Potion, Eye Drops

White Ghost
Location: Directly outside entrance to Quan's Dwelling
Wants: 1 Ore
Reward: 10 AP, Hi-Potion

Colour Ladybird
Location: Forest around Black Mage Village
Wants: 2 Ores
Reward: 20 AP, Ether

Green Yeti
Location: Bigger forest outside Madain Sari
Wants: 2 Ores
Reward: 20 AP, Elixer

Green Nymph
Location: Forest near Iifa Tree
Wants: 3 Ores
Reward: 30 AP, Emerald

Purple Jabberwock
Location: Forest directly east of Oeilvert
Wants: Emerald
Reward: 40 AP, Moonstone

Green Feather Circle
Location: Chocobo tracks on the Lost Continent near the beach close to Esto Gaza
Wants: Moonstone
Reward: 30 AP, Lapis Lazuli

Rainbow Garuda
Location: East forest on plateau above Gizamaluke's Grotto
Wants: Lapis Lazuli
Reward: 40 AP, Diamond

Friendly Yan
Location: Forest on Vile Island
Wants: Diamond
Reward: 50 AP, Rosetta Ring

If you get attacked by Yans while searching for the Friendly Yan, summon Odin and cast Death on them every round. Also, try to perform the ReflectX2 trick with Vivi, and have everyone else perform their most powerful skill.

If Quina manages to eat one of these enemies, he/she can learn the Auto-Life ability. Yans have around 20,000 HP, making them tough to dispose of quickly. However, each set of three is worth 28,000 EXP and 3APM, which makes levelling up and learning abilities much easier.